Warcraft movie director Duncan Jones tweeted today at 8:07am the Warcraft movie has officially wrapped up filming. Chris Metzen, and Nick Carpenter are among the Blizzard developers currently in Vancouver celebrating and overseeing the production of the movie.

The behind-the-scenes crew will now begin post-production for a good chunk of their lives throughout the next couple of years. The Warcraft movie is slated to hit the big screen on March 11, 2016.

Recently, the Empire Magazine had the awesome opportunity to show the first onstage behind-the-scenes photo of the Warcraft movie.

Last night, however, Duncan Jones posted the same photo shown in Empire Magazine with a different image on his computer monitor. Duncan Jones tweeted: “Kind of glad @empiremagazine touched up that behind the scenes picture before they published it.”

Duncan is kidding that the live action seen on his monitor in that Empire Magazine photo was photoshopped to look as if he was shooting that scene, but that in reality he was actually playing Warcraft III. Duncan shows in that tweet the same photo — but playing Warcraft III.

However, with Duncan Jones it is extremely difficult to figure out whether he was truly kidding, or if he is kidding+hinting.

Could Duncan Jones be hinting he plans to shoot a Warcraft III film? If so, would it be the next sequel, or would it be the third?

It’s difficult to think there wouldn’t be a Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and a Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal movie. Could he just skip all that and jump straight into a Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos movie?

The passion of Prince Arthas would look truly great in the big screen. A young Prince who ascends into the ranks of the Paladins in the ceremony celebrated in Stormwind. His romance with Jaina Proudmoore. His dark secret as he causes the dead of his loved horse Invincible. The plague of Andorhal. The Culling of Stratholme. His quest for vengeance in Northrend. The discovery of Frostmourne. His descend into madness. That really makes a great movie.

My job is to inform and to give you two or more possible options. What do you think? Was Duncan Jones kidding, or was he hinting a Warcraft III movie? — source

Duncan Jones tweeted recently the Warcraft Movie has only 3 days more of filming. That tweet was posted on May 16, which means the filming ends this week of May 19-23. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact day. Depends whether they filmed Saturday and Sunday. Or only Saturday, or not on the weekend at all. What is certain is it ends this week. Finito.

From that moment forward Duncan Jones and Bill Westenhofer will focus on Post-Production for the next two years. The Warcraft movie will be launched on 2016.

However, Legendary Entertainment CEO Thomas Tull recently hinted IGN during the premiere of “Godzilla” that a Warcraft Movie footage might be shown at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.

During the promotional presentation of Godzilla, Thomas Tull revealed to IGN that a video preview of the Warcraft Movie might be shown at San Diego Comic Con 2014 (SDCC). As mentioned by Duncan Jones at BlizzCon 2013, the movie is about the Alliance and the Horde. (Follow the link for the Warcraft Movie Presentation Panel transcript)

Thomas Tull: “We show up every summer at Comic-Con – we really enjoy it, and the fans seem to enjoy taking a look at things, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Thomas Tull refers to that in the IGN interview as focusing on two tribes. To decode that, in a nutshell, Duncan doesn’t want one of those fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings where the Humans fight monsters (mindless orcs). Duncan wants to film a movie based on the Alliance and the Horde. So we will see both sides, and get attached to one or both factions and their characters.

We will see Lothar and Durotan as heroes of their respective tribes. There is no such thing as a evil Lothar or an evil Durotan. Both tribes will do what they feel best for their people. We’ll see the point of view of both sides of the battlefield. That’s something we have rarely seen in a movie.

Last year not a single video of the mood piece came up in YouTube. Our correspondent staff member Naka (@dperschonok) will be at San Diego Comic Con. We’ll see if recording is allowed.

Duncan Jones tweeted the filming of the Warcraft movie will be wrapped up in three weeks starting today. The Warcraft movie production began on January 13th, 2014 in Vancouver. By the time the production wraps up, filming has lasted about 4 months and a week.

This is an excerpt from our transcript of the Movie Presentation Panel where Duncan and Rob Pardo say a preview will be available this BlizzCon 2014. It is found at page 6.

Duncan: You know, I would say next year.

Pardo: Probably some time next year. It is one of those things like — I mean we haven’t even started filming yet. So that schedule is just not put together yet. I think a lot of times it is about a year out from the release they start doing previews and things like that?

Duncan: I would say that I think next year’s BlizzCon panel is going to have a hell of a lot of interesting things to show.

Pardo: There you go. So make sure you come to BlizzCon next year.

Pardo: Alright, I want to thank you all guys for coming to the panel, and especially thank you so much that Duncan and Bill have come to share all the information about the movie and all please give us a hand for making all these reveals possible. Wait until next BlizzCon where we’ll actually show more.

Duncan Jones began the recording of the Warcraft Film on January 13th, and barely 24 hours later the teasing has begun: “Love big film sets! Always have. Just had a lovely wander through Durotan’s hood. Off to another set next!”– said Duncan.

This might only mean one out of two possible locations. The first thought to cross a lore fan when he/she reads “Durotan’s hood” is: Frostfire Ridge in Draenor.

Some of the Frostfire Ridge screenshots given to us at BlizzCon 2013 can be found here. So the Durotan’s hood (stands for: neighborhood) should look similar to the BlizzCon screenshots. The RedShirtGuy wrote a Blizzplanet article about his hands-on gameplay experience at BlizzCon 2013.

If the film story is set to start with images of both planets, and Durotan is in Frostfire Ridge at the beginning of this story — what we will likely experience in the film’s initial 30-minutes is the opening of the Dark Portal. Of course, these scenes could be flashbacks too.

The second Durotan’s hood was in Azeroth … that was the Alterac Valley (known by PvP players as one of the Battlegrounds). The problem with this is that we already saw a concept art showing Draenor. Thus, the first option sounds more likely to be the script’s aim, and what Duncan meant.

Would you want more teasers from Duncan? If so, join the discussion on twitter.

Legendary Entertainment announced today new casting details for the Warcraft Film which starts recording on January 12, 2014. Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown join the casting along with those recently announced.

Clancy Brown has been most recently in Cowboys & Aliens (2011), and he has a long acting history with Starship Troopers (1997), The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

What catches my eye is that throughout 2000-2013 Clancy Brown has mostly been a voice actor for video games and TV Series/animations such as G.I. Joe: Renegades, The Penguins of Madagascar, Thundercats, Green Lantern (The Animated Series), The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Wolverine and the X-Men — just to name a few.

This is interesting. Clancy might be playing as a real actor, or as a voice actor for a CGI character in the Warcraft film. Want to know something few may know? Clancy Jones voiced Thrall in the cancelled video game: Warcraft Adventures. He also voiced Scourgelord Tyrannus (Wrath of the Lich King’s Icecrown Citadel: Pit of Saron).

WARCRAFT fans, we have an exciting casting update…

Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown are joining the cast of WARCRAFT, based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft universe. They join previously announced cast members including Ben Foster, Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell, and Rob Kazinsky.

Production is set to begin this January in Vancouver. – source: Legendary

The Wrap reports Dominic Cooper is joining the Warcraft Film cast. Yesterday, Legendary Pictures announced the cast of actors to bring to life the main characters of the Warcraft film which is focused on the clash between Sir Anduin Lothar and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan during the First War.

Fan 16: I’m sure a few people in the audience has some opinions on this, but: Stereo conversion versus Native. What’s your opinion?

Duncan: I have one eye much better than the other. So 3D films are not something that immediately works right for me. I actually prefer to watch the 2D experience; but 3D is obviously a massively important draw for some people who really get a lot out of it. I don’t know if you have seen GRAVITY yet? Or if you actually saw that in 3D? but the response to that has been that 3D can work. So we will look into it. I think 3D is something that I would hope we would release in both so that people can choose which one they want. I am a 2D fan, but I know there are people out there who really do love 3D as well.

From the Legendary Pictures update, the new release date seems to be influenced by the Warcraft Film getting converted to 3D. Many films have had this treatment in recent years with success, and considering all the complex visual effects of Warcraft, it makes sense to literally jaw-drop the audience in blazing spectacular 3-D.

The Warcraft Film was among them:

Legendary Pictures’ WARCRAFT, released in 3D by Universal Pictures, will move from December 18, 2015 to March 11, 2016.
Legendary Pictures’ UNTITLED MICHAEL MANN PROJECT will be released by Universal Pictures on Friday, January 16, 2015.
Legendary Pictures’ SEVENTH SON will be released in 3D by Universal Pictures on Friday February 6, 2015.

Nick Carpenter shared on twitter just a glimpse into the type of work that Visual Effects can do for any film. The video below shows a “Before and After” breakdown from the film The Great Gatsby. While Westenhofer wasn’t involved in that film, this video shows heavy use of visual effects work. By the way, Simon Dugan (“The Great Gatsby” cinematographer) in on the Warcraft film. So this video below shows his work too.

Having watched that, below is a “Before and After” of the movie titled “The Life of Pi” for which Bill Westenhofer won an Oscar. Bill Westenhofer is the VFX supervisor for the upcoming Warcraft film.

The Production Weekly Magazine issue #873 has listed new auditions for the Warcraft movie. The listing still mentions the codename “Conflagration”, but it added a new one along with that which says: “Lost in Gastown”.

Gastown is a small town with a train station terminal located in Vancouver. “Lost in Gastown” is sort of a joke because it will get flooded pretty soon with actors from other states coming to the audition.

Duncan wishes to develop a Warcraft movie based on his view as a player of the game. He wants to go to the roots of what the original Warcraft was, which is you can be a hero no matter what side you are on; and it is about both sides. It’s gotta be red and blue. Horde and Alliance. Not just from the point of view of the Alliance as the original movie script was.

Another interesting thing that spun out of this panel is that Duncan Jones is hoping to have a preview of the Warcraft film by BlizzCon 2014. If that is not awesome news, then how about the fact Rob Pardo and Duncan Jones mentioned “Next Year’s BlizzCon”? After reading the details in a nutshell below, you may read our entire panel transcript here.

Film Details

Orcs will be real actors, emotive as much as any human character.

There is a scene in the Lion’s Pride Inn (Goldshire)

Concept Art shows: Dalaran, Draenor, Iron Forge, Stormwind.

Many Blizzard Artists, including Wei Wang, contributed an estimated 4,000 pieces of concept art for the film.

The past six months (June-Nov 2013) has been focused on pre-production design.

Half the cast is live-action actors and the other half are motion-capture technology based actors.

Real costumes will be crafted for the actors performing with motion-capture technology to have photographic references for the animations.

Nick Carpenter and Blizzard Cinematics team are working with Duncan Jones (Film Director) and Bill Westenhoffer (VFX Supervisor).

The orcs will really act and have personalities.

The Costume designers will create full-size casts to build the real Blizzard-style costumes.

Motion-Capture technology has been used in Planet of the Apes, Avatar, and The Avengers.

The team working on the Warcraft film was the same who worked on the film THE HULK.

The team is creating a duplicate of Elwynn Forest. The trees will be created as physical props capturing their size and distribution across the landscape too.

Bill Westenhofer and Nick Carpenter plan to add easter eggs found in-game into the Warcraft film.

Legendary and Blizzard have worked in collaboration to make this film.

The film will be set during the First War, during Warcraft I: Orcs and Humans (1994).

The lead characters are Sir Anduin Lothar and Durotan of the Frostwolf clan.

Duncan hasn’t been able to find an actor to play as Durotan.

Lothar and Durotan represent the highest ideals for each of both races.

The film will be done from the point of view of the humans and the orcs. Equally. Both races are heroes.

Durotan did never show up in the first Warcraft game. Was added to the lore later. The film will be like the Ultimate Spider-Man line reintroducing the Ultimate Warcraft classic story.

Duncan Jones hopes to break barriers introducing a War movie told from the point of view of both sides. A unusual structure for a movie.

Duncan teased whether the film and Warlords of Draenor tie-in somehow or not.

Bill Westenhoffer compares the Warcraft movie with Gladiator (2000). Actors will get dirty, covered in grime.

The music of the film has to be true to the music of the game and the environment soundtracks.

The swords that are being built are the biggest swords that a human can wield.

The production of the film is being documented as it progresses. Photos and video taken. Duncan would love to see a “The Making of” Art Book or Behind-the-Scenes DVD. No plans yet.

If the film works out they would be excited to continue the story. Trilogy isn’t ruled out. Metzen teases many trilogies if they put their mind to it.

The Production Team is pushing to include strong female lead roles.

If the Warcraft movie succeeds Blizzard hopes to have TV studios knocking their door to launch a Warcraft TV series like Game of Thrones.

Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson inspired Duncan Jones to wish to direct a fantasy movie.

Duncan thinks Peter Jackson has really set the bar as to what fantasy needs to be and anything the Warcraft movie team does has to match or beat that.

Duncan would like to have the Warcraft movie available in 2D and 3D so that fans choose which version to watch.

The Warcraft movie will be PG-13, but explains they can get their way with strong content with that rating, citing the Joker’s pencil scene in The Dark Knight was … PG-13.

During the Q&A a fan cited Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones had in common the development of linguistics for some races. Duncan Jones confirmed they have a linguistics team member who worked on some of those movies developing orcish language for the Warcraft movie.

Production Team Revealed

During the BlizzCon 2013 Warcraft Movie panel, Duncan Jones and Bill Westenhoffer revealed some of the team members in the Warcraft film production.

Pardo: Alright, everyone. Welcome to the Warcraft Movie Panel. We did this I think three years ago or something like this? But this time, I think it’s going to be 10 times the excitement as we actually have a release date for the movie.

I want to introduce everyone to the panel. To my right is Duncan Jones. He is the director for the Warcraft movie. He’s director of a couple of really awesome films you guys have seen: MOON and SOURCE CODE. And more importantly to you guys, Duncan has been playing Warcraft games since Warcraft One (aka Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, RTS), played Warcraft II, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft — even played Lost Vikings.

I think you guys all know the gentleman to my left, which is Chris Metzen. The guy in charge of all lore, story and franchise direction at Blizzard and pretty much all the soul at Blizzard. So we are going to talk a lot more about the movie and all what we are trying to do with it. And then to his left is Bill Westenhofer. Bill is the special effects supervisor for the film. He actually won the Oscar twice for Life of Pi and The Golden Compass.

Variety film reporter Justin Kroll claims an exclusive that Travis Fimmel, known for his role as “Tarzan” (TV series, 2003) in his early years and most recently in the History Channel “Vikings” (TV Series, 2013), has been secured for a role as one of the four leads in the Warcraft film.

There is no official word out there to confirm this, but Variety tags it as an Exclusive. At this point it may be assumed to be a leak from a source close to Fimmel or the Warcraft film production. Read his IMDB Profile.

After a lengthy search, Legendary Entertainment has found its leading man for the upcoming adaptation of “Warcraft,” tapping Travis Fimmel to star.

No formal offer has been presented yet but sources say he is their guy for one of the four leads in the film — source

“Warner Bros. may be making strides in the right direction with its long gestating WARCRAFT film, as there is interest for Johnny Depp to star.”

This rumor has never been confirmed by director Duncan Jones, Legendary Pictures nor Blizzard Entertainment. There was another rumor on July 30, 2013 spinning from BleedingCool that the Warcraft film script is based on the First War with Khadgar as the leading role.

However, back on August 30, 2013, I reported a quote from the “Production Weekly” auditions magazine which revealed the term “Conflagration” as a sort of codename for the Warcraft Film, and a brief description of the plot which contradicts the first rumor and makes us go bananas on what is truth or not.

His evil is legend. Lord of the undead Scourge, wielder of the runeblade Frostmourne, and enemy of the free peoples of Azeroth. The Lich King is an entity of incalculable power and unparalleled malice – his icy soul utterly consumed by his plans to destroy all life on the World of Warcraft. But it was not always so. Long before his soul was fused with that of the orc shaman Ner’zhul, the Lich King was Arthas Menethil, crown prince of Lordaeron and faithful paladin of the Silver Hand. When a plague of undeath threatened all that he loved, Arthas was driven to pursue an ill-fated quest for a runeblade powerful enough to save his homeland. Yet the object of his search would exact a heavy price from its new master, beginning a horrifying descent into damnation. Arthas’s path would lead him through the arctic northern wastes toward the Frozen Throne, where he would face, at long last, the darkest of destinies.

Just an hour ago, the Associated Press posted Johnny Depp attended the London Film Festival with blonde hair — just 12 weeks away from the filming of Warcraft in Vancouver.

Running a search in google for Johnny Depp photos show he has never used this particular tone of blonde before. It is a very particular … distinctive … and iconic blonde hue. Hmm?

The Warcraft Film is slated to begin rolling cameras on January 13th, 2014. Release date was announced to be on December 18, 2015.

Duncan Jones will be at Blizzard Entertainment’s BlizzCon co-leading the Warcraft film panel along with Chris Metzen and Rob Pardo on Saturday November 8 at 1:00pm. If you weren’t lucky to get a BlizzCon ticket you can still watch live this panel with the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket which allows you to watch a livestream either on your TV (DirecTV) or online on your PC. Get your Virtual Ticket here.

Blizzard Entertainment just posted the entire BlizzCon 2013 Schedule which reveals Duncan Jones will be a panelist along with Chris Metzen and Rob Pardo to discuss details of the upcoming Warcraft Film by Legendary Pictures, Atlas Entertainment and NBCUniversal.

Warcraft Movie Presentation

Main Stage
Saturday November 8 at 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Please join the Warcraft movie director, Duncan Jones, along with key Blizzard developers as they discuss the thrilling collaborative process of translating Azeroth’s game world to the big screen.

The BlizzCon 2013 Floor Map shows all the playable video games: Hearthstone, Diablo III (PS4), World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The big absent stage is StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void.

On Friday, November 8 — Blizzard will likely announce the new World of Warcraft expansion through the panel titled “World of Warcraft: The Adventure Continues” scheduled at 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST.

A few days ago, Duncan Jones announced on Twitter that he was leaving his home. Later he mentioned he was en route to Canada — without mentioning his destination. We already know Atlas Entertainment was conducting auditions in Vancouver, so it wasn’t hard to guess — but now it is confirmed. Duncan Jones has finally arrived to Vancouver after 1000 miles and 15 hours of driving from Los Angeles.

The big question is … why did Duncan Jones move to Vancouver three months before the Warcraft Film begins shooting cameras? It is an enigma.

Pre-production work? I could come up with random silly questions, but I’ll let you — the fan — create the turmoil in your mind tinkering his motives.

Personally, I am thrilled the Warcraft film is moving forward, and love all the short, and geeky updates Duncan Jones throws via Twitter. Much better than going radio silence for months. Keeps you on the edge of your seat pressing F5 to see what new update Duncan comes up with.